By the end of August 2002, there will be one
hundred and twelve 20 mph zones in Hull, more than any other authority
area in the country (ninety had been completed by March 2002).

These zones have contributed to dramatic reductions
in road casualties and cover a large area of the city (1340 ha).
There are over 190 km of roads subject to a 20 mph limit (representing
26 per cent of all roads in the city).

In 1999, Hull saw a 21 per cent fall in all
road casualties from the 1981-85 baseline (25 per cent reduction
if trunk road casualties are removed). To put this into perspective,
the Yorkshire & Humberside region experienced a 15 per cent
increase over the similar period. In terms of child casualties,
we have seen a 33 per cent drop since the mid 80's (compared to
a similar national reduction of 16.5 per cent).

The benefits of achieving slower speeds in residential
areas are well known, but few authorities have been able to achieve
what we believe amounts to a culture change on a city wide basis.
There is still much work to be done in Hull (as discussed later
in this paper) but the widespread acceptance of 20mph zones on
residential streets has given us the confidence to set achievable
local casualty reduction targets that are much more challenging
than the national targets. Ironically, Hull's unique funding situation
may be the only real barrier to achieving these targets, this
will be discussed later.

This paper briefly examines the success of Hull's
zones, and through the extent of experience which has been gained,
aims to demonstrate their role in achieving a safer infrastructure
for our children.

2. BACKGROUND

The following statistics provide a brief picture
of Hull:

 All wards within the city are within
the highest 30 per cent in terms of national indices of multiple
deprivation (three wards are within the highest 100 national wards)

It is estimated that at the end of 1999, 390 injury accidents
had been prevented within the 20 mph zones which had been previously
installed. 122 of these would have involved injuries to children.

The reason for these reductions is simply because of the
reductions in average vehicle speeds which 20 mph zones enforce
through their engineering measures. For example, road hump schemes
typically see reductions in speed from the high 20's to around
17 mph.

4. CONSULTATION

The benefits of 20 mph zones for all road users and especially
children are far-reaching providing that their needs are considered
as part of the scheme. Our experience in Hull has shown that this
can be achieved with little extra effort.

To balance the effects of the casualty reductions, we have
gone to a tremendous amount of effort to meet the needs of the
emergency services and bus operators. This is particularly true
of the last few years, where we have developed ambulance and bus
friendly measures which are now adopted as standard in Hull and
other adjacent local authorities. Recent schemes have included:

 A new access (with rising bollards) to improve
response times for the emergency services.

All of the zones installed in Hull so far have benefited
from extensive levels of public consultation through leaflets,
questionnaires, exhibitions, presentations to ward forums, residents
committees and feedback sessions. Previous response rates to questionnaires
have been between 10-40 per cent and typically:

 80-100 per cent are in favour of 20 mph zones.

 70-95 per cent are in favour of humps/cushions.

5. WHAT RESIDENTS
THINK

In August 2000, we asked 3,700 residents of existing 20 mph
zones what they thought of the scheme, 546 replied (15 per cent).

 Over 25 per cent of respondents said that they
walked or cycled more since the scheme was introduced.

 Nearly 80 per cent of respondents thought that
the installation of the scheme was a good idea.

 Over 70 per cent of respondents said that they
would recommend traffic calming to someone in another area.

 78 per cent of respondents felt that traffic speeds
had reduced since the measures were installed.

 25 per cent of respondents felt that there was
less traffic since the 20 mph zone had been installed.

 Over 50 per cent of respondents felt that the
20 mph zone had made the area a more pleasant place in which to
live. This was particularly encouraging since all of the areas
surveyed also suffer from a variety of other problems.

 60 per cent of respondents felt that more children
played in the street.

6. THE FUTURE

We are committed to carrying on with our programme of 20
mph zones and still have over 60 outstanding requests for traffic
calming.

Of the 733 km of roads in Hull, 191 km will have 20 mph limits
by September 2002 (26 per cent). There are around a further 249
km that are suitable for 20 mph zones (residential streets and
local distributor routes outside schools). This would make up
40 per cent of Hull's roads, consist of around a further 180 20
mph zones, and would cost an estimated £5.8 million to achieve.

This is certainly achievable and Hull is perhaps, best placed,
within the national context to demonstrate the positive effects
of appropriate traffic speeds in the urban environment. We would
welcome any work to measure the effects of what we have done so
far.

In response to our recent best value pilot review and to
address emergency service concerns, we are committed to revisiting
at least three previous local safety scheme funded 20 mph zones
each year. This provides an excellent opportunity to update the
measures to the latest designs and also add further pedestrian
and cycle facilities.

7. FUNDING

Since SCA under Local Transport Plans are now allocated under
the Single Capital Pot, Hull is in the unique position of being
unable to borrow against its allocation (£7.26million in
2002-03) due to the level of its Capital Reserves from the sale
of the Council's telecommunications company in 1998. This has
seriously affected our ability to continue with a programme of
20 mph zones and we are currently exploring limited funding options

8. CONCLUSION

There is much work to be done both nationally and in Hull
to improve our child road safety record. In addition to the national
target of a 50 per cent reduction (by 2010) in the number of children
killed or seriously injured, we have set ourselves a local target
of a 50 per cent reduction in all child casualties. We believe
that this will only be achieved through the extension of our network
of 20 mph zones as part of an integrated approach to road safety.